Laws should never be made to block the access of patients to medicines

Since the beginning of colonization until the early 20th century, many Brazilians legally cultivated marijuana, including the government itself.

Uruguay, Chile, Canada, Israel, 24 US states, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland are examples of places in the world where it is possible to buy with relative ease medicines made of cannabis base extracts, plant or natural herb.

Yuri Soares is chief of development effectiveness at the Multilateral Investment Fund. He holds a PhD in economics from Michigan State University and a Master's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Florida. He has worked in the United States and Brazil.

Decriminalizing drugs in Brazil would be a step forward for human rights, but the country still has to contend with its police.

Brazil’s Supreme Court justices are steadily issuing their votes in a seminal case that could determine whether or not the country will decriminalize the personal possession of drugs. Three of the 11 justices have voted in favor of decriminalization—two just for marijuana, one for all drugs—while a fourth last week gave himself more time to decide. Six votes are needed for decriminalization to succeed.

LAS VEGAS — Clinicians should educate themselves and their patients if they choose to use medical marijuana in their practice, according to Michael E. Schatman, PhD, a clinical psychologist who has spent decades working in multidisciplinary chronic pain management. He presented on this topic during a session this week.

Do Brazilian citizens have the right to consume drugs? That’s the question being considered by the Brazil's highest court in a case that has challenged the constitutionality of laws punishing drug consumption. Possession of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs is a crime in Brazil, even small amounts. In 2009, a man who was already in prison on a petty crime and an illegal firearms conviction was caught with a small quantity of marijuana, convicted and punished with an additional sentence.

The past decade has witnessed a remarkable transformation in the global debate over drug policy. As recently as the mid-2000s, drug legalization or even decriminalization was a fringe idea, something almost no politician would get near. That’s all changed. That the War on Drugs is a fundamental failure is a widely accepted fact among experts and even policymakers. Multiple nations no longer treat personal drug usage as a criminal problem but rather as one of public health. Many of them are actively considering following Portugal’s successful example of decriminalizing all drugs. The global trend is clearly toward abandoning prohibitionist policies.

If you are in the international market for marijuana, your legal options are limited. Though the cultivation of pot is widespread across the world, its legal status has only just begun to shift, with some countries choosing to decriminalize the substance and others loosening up enforcement regulations for users and growers.

The plant can grow just about anywhere, making it generally accessible to the global population, and, subsequently, one of the most commonly used illicit substances everywhere from the Americas to Europe. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are more than 177 million cannabis users globally.

The Brazilian pharmaceutical market will expand in value from $29.4 billion in 2014 to reach approximately $47.9 billion by 2020, representing a strong Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.5 percent, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The company’s latest report states that Brazil’s increasingly elderly population, which will lead to a rising incidence of chronic and lifestyle-associated diseases, as well as the country’s robust investment in healthcare, will be key drivers of market growth during the forecast period.

The Brazilian pharmaceutical industry continues to prosper, primarily thanks to the country’s economic policies and reforms.

Actors have spoken out on social networks about the Supreme Court judgment on drug possession, held on Thursday

Famous and anonymous, all in favor of the decriminalization of personal marijuana use, manifested by social networks to pressure the Supreme Court to decide favorably for drug possession for personal use.

Gregorio Duvivier launched a campaign on Instagram asking their fans to use the hashtag #DescriminalizaSTF and won the support of other famous advocates for the cause, like Caio Blat. The actor posted a picture on her profile on the social network that showed a poster with the following sentence: "Use is not a crime, neither is planting it."

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday began debating a drug case that could lead to the decriminalization of possession for personal use in the South American country.

In 2009, an inmate in a Sao Paulo prison was caught with three grams of marijuana. The crime of drug possession was tacked on to his criminal record that included robbery, sale of stolen goods and illegal possession of a gun. Two years, later the public defender's office in Sao Paulo state filed an appeal on his behalf arguing that the inclusion of drug possession was unconstitutional because it violated the constitutional right to privacy.